Would cardio 1h be bad for cutting when you are lean?

[Oneside1]

Im getting leaner and leaner. I was wondering if cycling for like 1h 2-3 times a week would be bad. Id like to not break down muscles. I do IF and works great. But I got this app strava and now want to cycle lol. Ive used it for walking, which is ok also. Anyways how much cardio is ok? Lets say you are 10-13% bf or what if you are less. How much and when should you stop doing cardio?

[lee__d]

It depends. If the cardio eats into your recovery from weight training, or causes too big a deficit. Then it's probably not a good idea.

[Oneside1]

How about cycling for about 1h. Doesnt that burn through the muscles? Even if i ate tons.. Im not eating while im biking.

I went for a 30min - 3.4km walk today. Walking is probably fine. But still worried about biking. I lift 3-4 times a week.

[ironwill2008]

How about cycling for about 1h. Doesnt that burn through the muscles? Even if i ate tons.. Im not eating while im biking.

I went for a 30min - 3.4km walk today. Walking is probably fine. But still worried about biking. I lift 3-4 times a week.

Ain't nobody got time for all that.

Just keep cardio to a minimum (a couple of 20-minute sessions per week, for heart/lung health) and instead, just eat a little less.

[Oneside1]

Ain't nobody got time for all that.

Just keep cardio to a minimum (a couple of 20-minute sessions per week, for heart/lung health) and instead, just eat a little less.

Well.. Id like to get into cycling/biking but not burn muscles.. But i guess that cant be done? How about 1h of semi-intense biking? 1h or less. Is that too much also?

[kennycroxdale]

How about cycling for about 1h. Doesnt that burn through the muscles?

I went for a 30min - 3.4km walk today. Walking is probably fine. But still worried about biking.

Your Conclusion

Exactly, how did you come to the conclusion that biking burns muscle while walking is okay?

Cycling

Cycling is less traumatic than running, jogging and walking.

The because there is NO eccentric component to it.

Eccentric loading in an exercise places more trauma on the muscle and require more recovery time.

Impact Force

Walking: The eccentric impact force in walking is around 1.5 time your body weight.

That means if you weigh, 150 lbs the eccentric impact force would be around 225 lbs with each step.

Running: The eccentric impact force in running is between 3 to 5 times your body weight.

That means, if you weight 150 lbs the eccentric impact force would be between 450 lbs (3 time body weight) to 750 lbs (5 time body weight).

Thus, the further you walk/run, the greater the eccentric loading is during your training session.

Summary

1) There is NO eccentric component to cycling.

2) Since cycling is ONLY a concentric movement, you recover fast than you would from an exercise (walking/running, etc) that has a eccentric component to it.

Kenny Croxdale

[ironwill2008]

Well.. Id like to get into cycling/biking but not burn muscles.. But i guess that cant be done? How about 1h of semi-intense biking? 1h or less. Is that too much also?

If you're so concerned with burning up muscle from doing cardio, do less cardio; there's not much else I can add.

[kennycroxdale]

How about 1h of semi-intense biking? 1h or less. Is that too much also?

What Makes An Hour SO Special?

Exercise is a poor method of decreasing body fat compared to diet.

Basically, as Ironwill stated, there are more effective method of investing your time that will elicit a better training effect.

Secondly, research (Dr Jake Wilson) indicates that at some point the body becomes acclimated to low intensity exercise (The General Adaptation Syndrome), as it does to a decrease in calories in a diet.

Once that occurs, low intensity exercise becomes ineffective for burning body fat/weight loss...no matter how much you do.

Diet

Diet is the key to fat loss.

Kenny Croxdale

[Oneside1]

Okey, thanks for your input. But its not just about burning fats. I have my diet under control. I just like biking lol. I like to eat little before i exercise, so a fruit or something. So once i burn through that, and/or while i burn through that ill burn through muscles. You dont just burn through bodyfat that fast.

[Oneside1]

I still this endurance training burns through muscles.

[SuffolkPunch]

Okey, thanks for your input. But its not just about burning fats. I have my diet under control. I just like biking lol. I like to eat little before i exercise, so a fruit or something. So once i burn through that, and/or while i burn through that ill burn through muscles. You dont just burn through bodyfat that fast.

You have more reserves of glycogen than you think - it's not just from the one piece of fruit you ate.

Again, you will only burn muscle if your total calorie deficit for the day is excessively high. Whether you reached this state because of the amount of formal exercise or because you didn't eat enough is probably not significant.

[kennycroxdale]

I have my diet under control.

Based on the information you have presented so far, it quetionable if you diet under control.

In other words, it hard to believe you know what you doing with your diet since you don't appear to know what you are doing with your training.

I like to eat little before i exercise, so a fruit or something. So once i burn through that, and/or while i burn through that ill burn through muscles. You dont just burn through bodyfat that fast.

Lack of Knowledge

One of your greatest restrains in making progress in your objective is your lack of knowledge.

Glycogen Levels

As SuffolkPunch stated, "You have more reserves of glycogen than you think - it's not just from the one piece of fruit you ate."

Insulin

Insulin production is increased after consuming carbohydrates.

One of the things insulin does is shut down the fat burning process.

Thus, eating a piece of fruit prior exercise (especially low intensity cardio) ensures that you burn glucose, not body fat.

Fasted Fat Burning Cardio

Body fats are accessed greater degree than glucose, especially with low intensity exercise during a fasted state.

Muscle (protein) is NOT being burned during the low level intensity exercise you are using.

IF, Intermittent Fasting

This is another area you don't quite understand.

One of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting it that it shift the body into burning fat over glucose.

One of the reasons for that is insulin levels are low, which allows glucagon (the antagonist insulin hormone) to burn body fat.

As per Jay Robb (Nutritionist), "Insulin is a fat maker. Glucagon is a fat taker."

Secondly, research shows that in fasted stated (up to 72 hours), metabolism is elevated about 7%. The body use body fat for energy, protecting muscle.

The sweet spot for fasting appears to be between 16 - 24 hours.

Daily Caloric Intake

The bottom line with fat/weight loss is caloric intake.

If you are consuming more calories during the day/week than you burn, you'fe NOT going to lose fat/weight, you will gain fat/weight.

Train Your Brain

Your biggest obstacle at this point is you lack of knowledge.

It amount to owning a car but not knowing how to start it or drive it.

You NEED to devote more time to learning, "No one ever got dumber from reading a book (anything)". Cosgrove

You success is limited to what you know, which is very limited.

Kenny Croxdale

[blue9steel]

It depends. If the cardio eats into your recovery from weight training...

This turned out to be the main constraint for me as I got stronger.

[Oneside1]

How much recovering does cycling/jogging need. Or would draining is it? It sounds like cardio would be horrible for weight training.

[kennycroxdale]

It sounds like cardio would be horrible for weight training.

Cardio and Weight Training

A well written/preformed cardio program enhances recover from weight training.

A poorly written/preformed cardio program is detrimental to weight training.

One of the axioms in medicine is...

"The dose makes the poison."

In other words, the right dosage will make you better.

The wrong dosage will kill you.

Kenny Croxdale

[tastan]

at two - three sessions a week even at an hour you should be fine. Make sure to take BCAAs if you do it fasted otherwise if you ate a meal with adequate protein prior to cardio, you'll be fine.